Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey

College Enrollment and Work Activity of High School Graduates News Release

Technical information: (202) 691-6378 USDL 09-0454
http://www.bls.gov/cps/
For release: 10:00 A.M. (EDT)
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Tuesday, April 28, 2009
COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF
2008 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES
In October 2008, 68.6 percent of 2008 high school graduates were en-
rolled in colleges or universities, according to data released today by
the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Information on school enrollment and work activity is collected month-
ly in the Current Population Survey (CPS). Each October, a supplement to
the basic CPS gathers more detailed information on employment, unemploy-
ment, earnings, demographics, and other characteristics of the civilian
noninstitutional population age 16 and over. Additional information
about the October supplement is included in the Technical Note.
Recent High School Graduates and Dropouts
Of the 3.2 million youth who graduated from high school from October
2007 to October 2008, 2.2 million (68.6 percent) were attending college
in October 2008. College enrollment rates were 71.5 percent for young
women and 65.9 percent for young men. (See table 1.)
The labor force participation rate (the proportion of the population
with a job or looking for work) was higher for young women enrolled in
college (46.1 percent) than for their male counterparts (36.0 percent).
Among recent high school graduates enrolled in college in October
2008, 93.2 percent were full-time students. The labor force partici-
pation rate was 38.5 percent for full-time students and 75.9 percent
for part-time students.
About 6 in 10 recent high school graduates who were enrolled in
college attended 4-year institutions. Of these students, 31.0 percent
participated in the labor force, while 55.9 percent of recent graduates
enrolled in 2-year colleges were in the labor force.
Recent high school graduates not enrolled in college in the fall of
2008 were more likely than enrolled graduates to be in the labor force
(76.4 versus 41.1 percent). The unemployment rate for high school grad-
uates not enrolled in college was 26.7 percent, compared with 14.9 per-
cent for graduates enrolled in college (in either 2- or 4-year institu-
tions.)
From October 2007 to October 2008, 400,000 persons between the ages
of 16 and 24 dropped out of high school. The labor force participation
rate for dropouts (48.4 percent) was lower than for recent high school
graduates not enrolled in college (76.4 percent). The jobless rate for
recent high school dropouts was 39.5 percent.
Youth Enrolled in School
In October 2008, 56.8 percent of the nation's 16- to 24-year-olds,
or 21.3 million young people, were either enrolled in high school (9.7
million) or in college (11.7 million). (See table 2.)
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College students were more likely to participate in the labor force
than high school students (54.1 percent compared with 27.5 percent).
Among college students, those attending full time had lower participa-
tion rates than part-time students. The rate of labor force partici-
pation was higher for female college students (56.6 percent) than for
their male counterparts (51.2 percent).
The unemployment rate for high school students, at 21.1 percent in
October 2008, was higher than for college students (8.0 percent). The
jobless rate for white high school students was 19.7 percent, which was
lower than for black high school students (30.5 percent) and for His-
panic high school students (34.8 percent). Among college students, the
white unemployment rate of 7.4 percent was below that for black students
(14.3 percent) and Hispanic students (12.0 percent).
Out-of-School Youth
In October 2008, 16.2 million persons age 16 to 24 were not enrolled
in school. Of these out-of-school youth, 79.9 percent were in the labor
force. Young men who were not in school were more likely to be working
or looking for work (85.4 percent) than young women not in school (73.9
percent). Labor force participation rates for out-of-school men and
women were highest for college graduates and lowest for those with less
than a high school diploma. (See table 2.)
The unemployment rate for out-of-school youth age 16 to 24 was 14.2
percent in October 2008. Among the educational attainment categories,
unemployment rates for youth not in school were highest for those with-
out a high school diploma--26.3 percent for young men and 25.0 percent
for young women. In contrast, the unemployment rates for young male and
female college graduates were 8.7 and 6.6 percent, respectively. Black
out-of-school youth had an unemployment rate of 23.7 percent in October
2008, compared with 12.4 percent for whites, 15.1 percent for Hispanics,
and 7.3 percent for Asians.

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Technical Note
The estimates in this release were obtained from a supplement to the
October 2008 Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of about
60,000 households that provides information on the labor force, employ-
ment, and unemployment for the nation. The survey is conducted monthly
for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau. Data in
this release relate to the school enrollment status of persons 16 to 24
years of age in the civilian noninstitutional population in the calendar
week that includes the 12th of October. Updated population controls for
the Current Population Survey are introduced annually with the release of
January data.
The supplement weights used in estimation were revised with the release
of October 2007 data. An additional weighting step was added in order to
bring the CPS estimates for persons receiving a high school diploma or GED
more in line with administrative records. The 2007 and 2008 October supple-
ment data are not strictly comparable with published estimates from earlier
years.
Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired
individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; TDD message refer-
ral phone number: 1-800-877-8339.
Reliability of the estimates
Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling and nonsampling
error. When a sample, rather than the entire population, is surveyed, there
is a chance that the sample estimates may differ from the "true" population
values they represent. The exact difference, or sampling error, varies de-
pending on the particular sample selected, and this variability is measured
by the standard error of the estimate. There is about a 90-percent chance,
or level of confidence, that an estimate based on a sample will differ by no
more than 1.6 standard errors from the "true" population value because of
sampling error. BLS analyses are generally conducted at the 90-percent level
of confidence.
The CPS data also are affected by nonsampling error. Nonsampling error
can occur for many reasons, including the failure to sample a segment of the
population, inability to obtain information for all respondents in the sample,
inability or unwillingness of respondents to provide correct information, and
errors made in the collection or processing of the data.
For a full discussion of the reliability of data from the CPS and informa-
tion on estimating standard errors, see the Household Data section of the
"Explanatory Notes and Estimates of Error" at http://www.bls.gov/cps/eetech_
methods.pdf.
Concepts
The principal concepts used in connection with the school enrollment series
are described briefly below.
School enrollment. Respondents were asked whether they were currently
enrolled in a regular school, including day or night school in any type of
public, parochial, or other private school. Regular schooling is that which
may advance a person toward a high school diploma or a college, university, or
professional degree. Such schools include elementary schools, junior or senior
high schools, and colleges and universities.
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Other schooling, including trade schools; on-the-job training; and courses
that do not require physical presence in school, such as correspondence courses
or other courses of independent study, is included only if the credits granted
count towards promotion in regular school.
Full-time and part-time enrollment in college. College students are classi-
fied as attending full time if they were taking 12 hours of classes or more (or
9 hours of graduate classes) during an average school week and as part time if
they were taking fewer hours.
High school graduation status. Persons who were not enrolled in school at
the time of the survey were asked whether they had graduated from high school.
Those who had graduated were asked when they completed their high school educa-
tion. Persons who had not graduated, that is, school dropouts, were asked when
they last attended a regular school. Those who were enrolled in college at the
time of the survey also were asked when they graduated from high school.